Excite your synapses with this Essential Playlist of Early Music
From my classmates I picked up indie rock, and from musician friends I picked up jazz (Hard bop, so I was thrilled to meet Patrick de K, whose mom was the patron of Thelonious Monk and other greats). From my audiophile friend I learned this specialized burn: “Eh, that’s a lifestyle product.”
When I got my first apartment I had two housemates: one loved Broadway, and one collected recordings of early music (“classical” from 1600-1800). So I got to know the work of Stephen Sondheim, but I’ve never done a deep dive into early music. Recently I discovered that the albums he ordered from European record companies are all available online on music streaming sites. No more excuses—time to plug in the gaps in my education.
I asked Leo to make a list of essential early music, say 25 works. Little did I know that the resulting playlist would come to almost 40 hours of early music. Listen to these playlists and feed your dendrites.
Early Music Essential Playlist: Orchestral
Early Music Essential Playlist: Instrumental
Early Music Essential Playlist: Vocal
Early Music Essential Playlist: Choral, Oratorio and Opera
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
January 27th, 2018 at 17:55
I have listened to many many recordings of the Mozart: Exsultate Jubilate and the Vivaldi: Nulla in Mundo Pax Sincera and the Handel: Tu Fedel Tu Costante, and truly nothing beats Dame Emma Kirkby’s for all three showcase pieces.
Yes, she is no doubt the best early music soprano alive.
February 2nd, 2018 at 09:15
Any concerto by Bach is worth listening to. May I add his six Cello Suites to the playlist? These were my writing music (the Yo-Yo Ma renditions).